Kevin Steen vs. El Generico: Holy crap, what a start. This longstanding feud led to a lot of hard hitting...a lot. Outstanding crowd reaction. Several false finishes. Super ending. ****
Kenny King & Rhett Titus vs. Cheech & Cloudy: Great match. Nice double-team moves and the crowd was really into it. **3/4
Delirious vs. Austin Aries: I really liked the match...it was filled with physicality and had a nice back story to it. I marked a bit when Aries missed that Heat Seeking Missile and crashed hard into the barricade. However, in the end the DQ really took away from the match. ***
Toronto Gauntlet Match (Roderick Strong, Tyson Dux, Eddie Edwards, Shawn Daivari, Colt Cabana, Steve Corino): Pretty good overall. the Dux/Edwards match was the best of these matches (I gave that match a **3/4, as a note). The others were not as good. Strong wins and has some nice momentum to stay at main event status and a possible world title shot in the future. My official rating basically combines all the matches. **1/4
Claudio Castagnoli & Chris Hero vs. Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe (No DQ; Tag Team Titles): When I heard no DQ, I knew this match would be good. They kept the traditional tag rules, but still mixed in all hell breaking loose at times. All the wrestlers bled, we saw choking (and no one was fired), and a lot of weapons were used. Fan reaction was off the charts. I love non-PG wrestling. ****1/2
Tyler Black vs. Davey Richards (World Title): And ladies and gentlemen, we may have a winner for Match of the Year. Just incredible, hard-hitting action. The fans were going apeshit. This, in a nutshell, had just about everything you really could want in a match. I read that people were giving this the full boat, and I was real skeptical. While in the end I decided not to give it the full boat (see below for update), this totally delivered on so many levels.
Apparently, Davey Richards is retiring at the end of the year. Tyler Black is still in his mid-20s. This match was the defining match in both their careers. Black will have more ****+ matches, and no doubt that Davey will attempt to go out with a bang, but this match was THE match wrestling fans will remember. ****3/4
(UPDATE: I had originally given the full five stars to this match, but after sleeping on it and giving much thought to other matches I have rated five stars, Black/Richards didn't quite measure up after all. However, that should not take away from their amazing performance -- and it doesn't change my thoughts on this match, either. We still have a potential MOTY winner here.)
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MVPs: Davey Richards and Tyler Black. No argument there.
Overall Rating: This is one of those times where I felt paying $15 -- even to see the replay -- was virtually stealing from ROH and GoFightLive. Just look at the card. There were ZERO bad matches on the card, and the main event was incredible. I am a big Davey Richards fan, and I'm very sure many people will know why if they saw this show. In a nutshell...BUY NOW. ****1/2
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